


earth below us (drifting, falling)

by Hoothootmotherf_ckers



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Families of Choice, Gen, M/M, NASA AU, Team as Family, apollo 13 au, this is a lot of things at once
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 23:54:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21737881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hoothootmotherf_ckers/pseuds/Hoothootmotherf_ckers
Summary: Before the Starblaster, before the Stolen Century, there were test missions. Lup, Taako, and Davenport are slated for a simple one - taking a smaller ship out to their home planet's fourth moon for a routine test of the planar rift technology. But when disaster strikes, the team of astronauts will have to fight to survive, and their friends and loved ones back on the ground will have to race against the clock to bring them home. A modern/1950s NASA/early IPRE hybrid au inspired by Apollo 13. Title from Major Tom by Peter Schilling.
Relationships: Barry Bluejeans & Lup, Barry Bluejeans/Lup, Davenport & Lup (The Adventure Zone), Julia Burnsides/Magnus Burnsides, Kravitz/Taako (The Adventure Zone), Lup & Taako (The Adventure Zone), Magnus Burnsides & Lup, listen it's every permutation of the starblaster crew
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	earth below us (drifting, falling)

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [In Event of Moon Disaster](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15256938) by [Hoothootmotherf_ckers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hoothootmotherf_ckers/pseuds/Hoothootmotherf_ckers). 



“I’m not even fucking sick! I could like, _maybe_ get sick, but this thing is like three days, tops, I can put up with some sniffling in space for three days!”

Lup sighs. “I know you could, ok? But this isn’t a cold. Do you really want to be puking in zero gravity?”

Her brother glares back at her. She holds her ground, though her face softens in worry. 

“Look, Taako, I know, okay?” she says. “I worry too. But I’ll have Davenport up there with me, and you and Creesh and the whole team on the ground. And besides,” and she flashes a smile and finger guns at him, “I’m me. And I’m _pretty awesome_ at what I do.”

Taako’s shoulders drop, tension draining. “Yeah, I know you are,” he mutters. “Just- be safe?”

Lup pulls him in for a hug. “Always am.”

The next day dawns too early, a pale yellow light washing over the launch pad. High atop a lattice of steel and aluminum, a number of engineers, ground crew, and other vital roles bustle around the open hatch the the Command Module. Inside, three astronauts are patiently waiting as they’re clipped, buckled, and otherwise strapped into their seats. Well, mostly patiently - it’s not a word that’s frequently used to describe Magnus Burnsides, and Lup can see his foot wiggling. 

Behind them all stands Taako, looking disheveled and exhausted in a pair of coveralls he likely finagled from an engineer. He’s certainly not supposed to be up here - only mission approved astronauts and ground crew should’ve been allowed onto the platform, let alone up to the capsule. But his creativity and inability to take no for an answer are part of what got him this far in the program, so in general the crew turns a blind eye. They know him, and they know he won’t do anything to jeopardize the mission’s safety protocols. After all, its precious cargo is the reason he’s here, white knuckles matching his washed-out face. 

Before the hatch closes, Lup gives one last little wave to her brother. “Back soon!” 

His strained grin back is the last thing she sees before three inches of aluminum wall seals with a hiss in front of her. She clicks her visor shut. 

—

On paper, this mission and spacecraft were Tyche VIII. And that’s fine, for a PR department that presents this mission to the public as just one step in a polished string of preparations. But the crew knew better. This may be part of a sequence, but that doesn’t make it less of a mission. So they decided it needed a proper name of its own. 

Davenport, the poet, had wanted to name the ship the Wayfarer. Lup liked Courage or Resolve, but then decided those were best left for official names. Still, she liked the gist. Taako started throwing around less sophisticated ideas on similar themes - Globetrotter, Chutzpah, Stubbornness, Trailblazer. By this point, it was about two am and the department’s secret break room was covered in scraps of paper and empty coffee cups. After about another hour of this, Magnus, who’d appeared at some unknown time, suggested they go with something relating to the specific mission - or, rather, “the whole, like, plane-breaking what-the-fuck-ness?” 

That was the point where Lucretia grabbed a sharpie, scribbled on a piece of paper, yelled “VOIDCRUNCHER!” and immediately passed out on the table.

The name stuck. 

The Voidcruncher was more than just one step to a mission, but the mission as a whole couldn’t be disregarded. This was going to be big - bigger than the Space Race, the Moon Landing. This would put the names Davenport and Taaco up there with the likes of Gagarin, Armstrong, and Ride. And on a completely different field, with Newton and Einstein too. What they had planned went beyond not just the bounds of space exploration, but beyond the laws of physics.

Put simply, they were going to travel to another plane of existence. 

That terrifyingly lofty goal was still many years and innumerable missions away. They’re still in the research and testing phases at the moment, and testing is the key of the upcoming Voidcruncher flight. The IPRE labs had somehow - and Lup has a degree in astrophysics and she doesn’t even understand it, so just roll with it - created a device that could, in theory, tear a hole in the fabric of a plane. Okay, so the scientists don’t like using the word _tear,_ it’s inelegant and unprofessional sounding, unlike “incision” or whatever word they like this week. But the point is, this thing can break through to other realities - in theory.

It needs testing, lots and lots of testing. That’s Lup’s job. 

—

There’s a hiss over the radio, a voice Lup can’t identify. “Initiating launch procedures. T-minus sixty.”

Magnus reaches out and grabs her hand. Instinctively, she squeezes back. 

“T-minus thirty-one. Auto sequence start.”

“T-minus sixteen. Activate launch pad sound suppression system.”

“T-minus ten, activating main engine hydrogen burnoff system.”

Flashing indicator lights surround her, silhouetting her face in reds and yellows. She knows every one by heart, this isn’t her first rodeo. At this point, the alarms are more a comfort than a threat. 

“Nine,

eight,

seven. Start main engines.”

A rattling has begun in the cabin, a vibration that Lup can feel down to her bones. Magnus, besides her, is shaking just as much. Davenport is placid as a lake. 

“Six,

five,

four,

three,

two,

one,

zero. Ignition.” 

The world is roaring around her, shaking and rattling more than the strongest earthquake. She can feel the g-force pushing her down into her seat, the laws of physics saying _you don’t belong here._ She squeezes her eyes shut and refuses, keeps going, keeps her focus, and then-

Everything is still, and the whiteness of the atmosphere is darkening into the ink-blue of space, and she can see the stars and the moons and her little blue planet, so far below. With a shaky laugh, she unclips her harness and pushes up from her chair, short dark hair fanning out as if underwater. Turning completely upside-down in a half-somersault, she looks back over at Davenport, who’s still focused on his job but smiling, too. 

“Yeah, this part’s always just as cool as the very first time.” With a few last button-presses and switch-flips, he unclips as well, twirling through the cabin as if he was born in zero gravity. Magnus looks up at them both, and Lup notices his stiff posture and still-clasped harness.

“Hey, big guy, you wanna come up here? The water’s nice!” she jokes, and he smiles back tensely and slowly starts to unbuckle the many straps.

Finally, all the velcro and buttons are free, and Magnus takes a deep breath before pushing off, a little too hard. He’s ungainly, he’s awkward, and he nearly hits the ceiling, but as he spins around to face them, he’s laughing so hard he can’t straighten up.

“This is not at _all_ what that underwater training was like, the scientists have _lied_ to me, what the fuck,” he mutters, giggling.

From the console, there’s a burst of static. “Excuse you, I resent that remark,” Lucretia says, deadpan, and there’s a moment of frozen silence before she continues, “I have a sworn statement from Fisher that would argue otherwise.”

The entire cabin cracks up laughing, tears streaming down their faces and floating away. Lup chokes out, “Somehow I don’t think - that your- your _pet jellyfish_ is a reliable scientific correspondent, Madam Director Ma’am.”

“Excuse you, they’ve spent over a hundred hours in space and contributed to multiple scientific papers, and they’re only three. Were _you_ an esteemed scientist as a toddler, Lup?” 

And they’re lost in laughter again.

But though the mood stays light, there’s work to be done, and Davenport slips back into his seat for the last part of departure. And as he flips a few key switches and knobs, the Voidcruncher _transforms_. The capsule itself is, like its predecessors, is rather nondescript - a simple grey canister, shaped somewhat like a bullet, drifting through space. Rather, it is its propulsion system that makes it unique, something straight out of science fiction. As Davenport works, Lup watches in wonder as four long arms, longer than the ship itself, emerge evenly spaced around the capsule’s center. And from these arms a billow of what seems like radiant silver silk unfurls. For the Voidcruncher is powered by a solar sail, a glimmering sheet of mirrors propelled by the force of solar radiation pushing like the lightest breeze against a traditional canvas sail. And unlike a typical sailing ship, the Voidcruncher need not worry about any form of air resistance or drag slowing their flight. 

So as the sail snaps into place, and Magnus lets out a whoop, Lup smiles, gazing backwards at her slowly shrinking planet.

**Author's Note:**

> So, if this seems familiar to anyone, it's because this was originally intended for the 2019 Adventure Bang under a different title. Then my life went completely to hell and this fic was dropped in the desperate scramble, and for that, I apologize. So here it is, months later.
> 
> This is also inspired by a fic I wrote a year and a half ago, which is an Apollo 11 au that... does not end well. That's some serious hurt/no comfort major character death, folks. So this story started as a response to a few certain people (looking at you Kat) asking me to fix it, and then like many of my fic concepts dramatically outgrew its origins. 
> 
> All chapter titles, like the fic title, will be coming from some of my favorite songs about space. This one is from Big Smoke by Chris Hadfield, best known for his cover of David Bowie's Space Oddity on the ISS.
> 
> _Big smoke, no one says it's easy  
>  Big smoke, more fragile than you seem  
> Big smoke, carry precious cargo  
> Show us how to live and how to dream_


End file.
